Girl's disappearance still under investigation

SANDY  Police here said they still aren't completely sure what happened to a 16-year-old girl who was the subject of a weekend Amber Alert.

On Monday, police were not calling their probe into the disappearance of Robyn Atkinson a "kidnapping investigation," saying instead they simply want to find out what happened before they determine what, if any, charges should be filed.

Sandy Police Sgt. Victor Quezada said investigators were retracing the girl's steps over the 25 hours she was missing. Quezada said detectives still had several more interviews to conduct before determining what transpired.

Hours after an Amber Alert was issued on Saturday, Atkinson was found at a home in Sandy in the company of a 17-year-old boy. He was questioned and later released after Quezada said he was determined not to be a flight risk.

The search for Atkinson brought out more than a hundred volunteers and hundreds of law enforcement officers. The Utah Attorney General's Child Abduction Response Team was also activated for the second time since it was created.

CART is made up of police from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies with various specialties.

"Everybody immediately does what their assignment is, go pick up equipment, go out and immediately do canvass searches, set up databases, bring in search dogs, interview the families, witnesses," said Lt. Jessica Farnsworth, who commands the team. "All of this taking place at once. Because this is happening at once, you're hitting a lot of areas."

CART was first activated in the April kidnapping of Hser Ner Moo, 7, who was abducted from her South Salt Lake home and beaten and strangled. Her accused killer, Esar Met, 21, faces a preliminary hearing on Dec. 9. Though the result was tragic, Farnsworth said the team was able to mobilize quickly to help search.

The effort was even bigger and better the second time around.

"We come under one umbrella," Farnsworth said. "We act as one."

Video provided by the Utah Attorney General's Office during Atkinson's disappearance showed CART members taking over a room at the Sandy Police Department, setting up laptops, crowding around tables and reviewing maps of the neighborhood she vanished from.

"We appreciate all you're doing for us right now," Sandy Police Chief Stephen Chapman said on the video. "We just hope we find her and she's OK."